DriveSmartBC

The use of vehicle impoundment as part of an array of penalties to discourage improper driving behaviour will expand significantly when amendments to the Motor Vehicle Act become law on September 20, 2011. In every case the cost of the impoundment will be the responsibility of the owner of the vehicle.

The BC Government has announced that the Commercial Vehicle Safety & Enforcement inspectors now have enhanced authority under the Motor Vehicle Act to administer Designated Inspection Facilities and to cancel the authorization of inspectors who fail to follow policy or the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act Regulations.

It's that time of year again, sunny and dry with a chance of mindless smokers. I watched another one take the last puff and then toss the smouldering butt out the window onto the highway while he waited in front of me at a red light.

I am curious how is it that it is possible for an officer to issue a ticket without actually witnessing the alleged offense, and only going by a couple of witness calls that likely do not have the plate number of the alleged offender and in a location that is not specific?

Something must have struck a nerve lately as I have received a number of requests to deal with cyclists passing other traffic on the right hand side. One near miss on a right turn even had the cyclist shaking their fist and cursing the driver.

What's behind me and why should I care? I'm driving down the highway and I'm certainly not going to back into something! There are at least two common hazards that occur regularly behind every driver and looking out for them is just good sense.

This report produced by the US Transportation Research Board's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) explores human factors principles and findings for consideration by highway designers and traffic engineers.

This video from Consumer Reports explains what to do if you vehicle is subject to sudden, uncontrolled acceleration.

Here's an new angle on a continual problem, that of other road users failing to yield to emergency vehicles. Most of the time this question is asked about cars and trucks, but this fire department official asks the question about a different subset of traffic, cyclists: